Knitting. Quilting. Sewing. Motherhood. Cleaning. Just kidding about the cleaning.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Hi There! I Still Knit!

Hello friends!

Thanks for hanging in with me. Does anybody out there do AVIC (Art Volunteers in the Classroom) in their elementary school? If so, give me a shout out.

It's a volunteer program where we go in and give each class a 45 minute program on a specific artist and artwork and do a little art project. It is only once a month, so it isn't a terribly big commitment, and it is really fun. I have done it the past 2 years (last year in my kids' kindergarten and 2nd grade classes) but this year I have volunteered to be Chairperson for the school. It has been a lot of organizational work the past 2 weeks, but I had our introductory meeting yesterday, so now I think the majority of the work is done for the year, and I feel a bit of freedom. Strange! Good.

Re: Knitting. I like to knit a lot of things, but I guess I finally discovered this year, that what I love most is sweaters. I really am a sweater person. Earlier this summer, I wrote about finding that perfect project and getting my sweater mojo back. I found that knitting sweater pieces can be as portable and mindless for good summer knitting as socks, as long as you are in the groove with your pattern.

The problem comes with the sewing together and finishing work. Not so portable, schlepping a sweater body and two sleeves with your packet of needles, markers, thread, buttons etc. in the beach bag. Not so mindless, trying to slipstitch a sleeve into an armhole while chatting it up with another mom and simultaneously watching the 2 kids in the pool while making the third one a peanut butter and jelly.

The result at the end of the summer? Lots and lots of sweater pieces needing finishing.

Do you want details? If you responded yes, see below. Clockwise from upper left we have:Capri. Needs: front bands, neckband, decision on buttons or snaps, sleeve seams and sleeves sewn into armholes. I have done some work on this one since I snapped the above photo a week ago, and this one is looking promising.

Chantal. Needs: sleeve seams, sleeves sewn into armholes, and neckband. I'm not even listing "weave in ends" and "blocking" on all of these, since that is a given.

February Lady. Technically, this one is done. As in "wearable". But I'm not really happy with the neckline. It just sort of droops on me and doesn't do anything flattering. I am toying with the idea of decorative crochet around the neck, but I hardly have any yarn left and I need a nice date night with a crochet hook and a crochet book which just hasn't happened in my universe.

Selda. The farthest from being finished because I haven't knit the sleeves. But doesn't she look pretty!? Do you think I could finish her by Yarn Con?

Hey Teach: I have done a lot of work on this one in the past week, and it is blocking on my bed as we speak. Don't get too excited though, when I sewed on the buttons and tried it on, it was 2" too short! How could that happen??!! I am usually very careful about the length, as I am picky and like my sweaters to be exactly 23". I know I went a little on the short side, because Cotton Ease droops. But 2" is WAY too short. I am blocking and stretching it, and we'll see tomorrow how that works out. Otherwise, I will have to remove the front bands and cut it above the bottom ribbing and knit down. Worth it, because it is a really PRETTY sweater!

That's it folks! Now I wonder if I have time to sew a sleeve into an armhole before preschool pickup......

Emily, all your sweaters are so nice and pretty. That is a whole new wardrobe there! I hope you will find some time here and there to finish them off. I am so tempted to start a February Lady myself. Could you perhaps knit a picot edging to yours in a contrasting colour?

I understand the finishing dilemna.Right now I'm working on finishing quilts for my Solo show in January. I have about 7 left to finish and in about 4 cases finishing also includes quilting!But we will persevere - and make it!K

We do the art in the classroom thing at my kids' school but it is called Picture Parent. Each classroom has a volunteer parent (or two who alternate). Each grade has a set of art pieces (usually paintings) that are discussed (so all 2nd graders see the same paintings). The nice thing for the volunteers is that they get a packet with all the research already done so they don't need to be art experts. Usually, the volunteers include notes on what kind of hands on activity they did so you don't always have to reinvent the wheel. An example of an activity the kids have enjoyed is taping paper to the underside of their desks to do their own "cave" drawings. The goal is to get them to explore the artistic style from their own perspective. Fun!

You go girl!!! Coordinating art in the classroom and all those beautiful sweaters. That's a lot of work. Selda is my favorite. I try to seam things up right away too. If I don't I have learned that they sit around for too long :(

Your February Lady is lovely. You mentioned crocheting an edge on the neckline. In the book "Highland Knits" some of the sweaters have a simple, crochet picot edge done in a contrasting color such as fuschia.